


Apple Bunnies

by Stormlyht



Series: This Town That Loves Me [33]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Sweetness, Talking, This town loves Derek, stiles not so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-22
Updated: 2015-07-22
Packaged: 2018-04-10 15:52:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4397942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stormlyht/pseuds/Stormlyht
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek is visiting Stiles in the hospital, and doing the only thing he can think of.  Making Apple Bunnies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Apple Bunnies

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, seriously, there is sweetness and fluff here. Pretty sure the hurt/comfort tag is right. My wife and I have debates on what hurt/comfort means exactly so let me know if you think it's an inappropriate tag.
> 
> Also, apple bunnies! I love using them here, and if you have no idea what that is, [THIS](http://eugeniekitchen.com/apple-rabbits) will tell you how to make them. It's so easy, and so cute in a lunch! (My wife and I might have made bento's for lunch for a few years and took away some tricks. Don't ask about the octopus dogs in baked beans incident, they were delicious but looked kind of weird.)

Derek carefully cut the apple into eight slices. Stiles was asleep as he worked, probably out because of the drugs and not from anything else. His hands moved the knife carefully so he could cut the core out.

There weren’t many things that could make a werewolf sick, but accidentally eating wolfsbane was one of them. When he had been six he’d ingested a whole plant, and his mother had carefully burned the flower, pressing the ashes into apple slices before making him eat them. One slice, then two, then three, until the whole apple and all the ash was gone. It had tasted bitter, and he hadn’t wanted to eat another apple afterwards.

Until his mother had made them like this. He carefully cut a V in the skin, then began cutting the skin off. When he had the V gone and a little of the rest up he stopped, and moved on to the next slice.

“What are you doing?” Stiles asked softly, mind awake before his body really was, and Derek didn’t even look up.

“Nothing much,” he said. He wasn’t even sure if Stiles liked apples, but if not, he figured he’d eat them instead. The cutting wasn’t difficult and he kept going.

“Are those apple slices?” Stiles mumbled as he looked over at Derek. Derek could feel the shift in the room, could feel Stiles’ gaze on him. “They smell good. They’ve been giving me terrible food here, I should make my Dad eat some of this stuff, he’d love the veggie burgers after that.”

“That’s torture Stiles,” Derek said gently. “Be nice.”

Stiles snorted and there was silence for a moment. “Dude, are you making apple bunnies?”

Derek felt his cheeks get warm and he finally looked up at Stiles, all eight slices perfectly cut. “Yes.” Then he lifted one and offered it to Stiles.

“You’re serious?” Stiles asked, laughing a little. He reached for the slice but Derek pulled it away.

“No,” he said as he moved the slice to Stiles’ mouth. “Let your arms rest.”

Raising an eyebrow at Derek, Stiles opened his mouth and dutifully took a bite of the rabbit. He chewed, a soft moan coming from his throat, and leaned back again in the bed.

“I love apples,” he said with a sigh. Then he looked at the slices and smirked. “Is this your way of hunting and providing for me? Because if so, it’s way too cute.”

“No, I-” Derek started, the flush getting deeper. “So what if it was?” Now his voice was soft and a little fragile, even to his ears. He hadn’t been there for Stiles, he’d been so worried about the Alpha Pack and the way Stiles had dismissed him as his Alpha that he hadn’t thought to make sure Stiles got back home safe.

The silence rang in the room as he looked down at the apple in his hand and he felt frustrated that he couldn’t do more. He wanted to wring the kid’s neck, but he was effectively locked up in jail. He also wanted to call everything off, make a run for it, take Stiles to Mexico or something, but he knew that doing that would put everyone in danger, and it wouldn’t even work. Deucalion would come for him. He’d follow him anywhere.

“Dude,” Stiles said softly. “More?”

Derek’s gaze snapped up to Stiles, who had his mouth open, and almost without thought he offered the second half of the apple bunny to Stiles. It disappeared between lips in an instant and Stiles smiled at Derek. Derek offered him a small smile in return.

There was silence for a while as Derek fed Stiles several more pieces of apple. He wasn’t sure how to apologize, and Stiles seemed content to just sit there and let Derek feed him. It was when all eight pieces were gone that the silence became a little uncomfortable.

“I have more apples,” he finally said, looking down at his empty plate.

“How many more?” Stiles asked curiously.

“A whole bag.” Derek shrugged and lifted up the bag of apples. They were Gala, one of his favorites because of the crispness and sweetness.

“You can’t honestly expect me to eat all of those apples in one go,” Stiles laughed.

“Of course not,” Derek said with another shrug. He put the bag down. “I just… I figured I’d eat some too.”

“Maybe make a pie or three?”

“It’s not enough apple for a pie Stiles,” Derek said with a frown, looking up at Stiles, who was grinning at him.

“And you’d know because…” Stiles trailed off with a raised eyebrow.

“I just know,” Derek snapped, pulling out another apple and beginning to cut it.

“Aw, Sourwolf knows how to bake! You have got to make a pie for me someday. I want to watch you do it. With a rolling pin and an apron and everything!”

“I don’t wear aprons when I cook,” Derek said the words quickly, trying not to think about the plain domesticality of the picture Stiles was painting for him. The two of them, together, Derek cooking, Stiles watching, probably commenting on the merits between making a pie with one kind of apple versus making a pie with multiple kinds. (Derek liked pies with many kinds because the flavors complimented each other nicely and he didn’t really like the sourness of Granny Smith.) He wouldn’t wear an apron, of course, but there’d be music in the background, Scott maybe playing on one of those game systems with Boyd, Erica and Isaac making bets on who would win.

It was a nice picture, but one he couldn’t have. Especially if things kept happening here the way they were.

“No?” Stiles asked, his voice lifting a little seductively. “Not even if it’s the only thing you were wearing?”

Derek’s gaze snapped to Stiles, who was licking his lips, eyes traveling down Derek’s body and back up.

“I wouldn’t -” Derek began, and the picture he’d formed suddenly lost the others, and became one of just him and Stiles.

“You’re thinking about it,” Stiles grinned, and Derek met his eyes finally. They were amused, but also heated.

“You’re a bad influence on my imagination,” Derek said, finishing up one piece quickly and stuffing it in Stiles’ mouth.

Stiles laughed around the apple and chewed dutifully before opening his mouth to speak again. Derek didn’t let him, pushing more apple into Stiles’ mouth, a small smirk lifting the corners of his mouth.

“I could do this all day,” Derek said softly as he lifted the next piece of apple. Stiles glared and lifted a hand to put it over his mouth lightly.

“Stop that,” he said through his fingers.

“Why?” Derek asked.

“Because I told you to.”

Derek raised one eyebrow and stared at Stiles until Stiles laughed again. His head fell back on the bed and he shook his head.

“Because I asked you too?” Stiles tried then and Derek snorted. “Oh come on.” Stiles glanced at Derek, who was holding another apple bunny up.

They stared at each other for a few minutes, then Stiles face relaxed completely and this soft look went across his face. “Because I want to tell you that I really think this is the sweetest thing you could ever do for me, and I think you’re amazing.”

Something inside Derek twisted and melted at the same time. Tension he hadn’t realized he’d been carrying left and his heart hurt to see that beautiful look on Stiles’ face. A look of intense caring that Derek didn’t know how to handle.

“It’s the only thing I could think of to do,” he admitted as he lowered the hand and looked down at the scattered apple slices. “God Stiles, when I heard you were in the hospital…” he trailed off, not sure how to approach the feelings inside.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay though. I’m okay, I mean, I’m not swell, but I’m okay. Not dead yet.”

Derek squeezed his eyes shut. “Not yet,” he agreed, feeling that fear well up inside him all over again. “But soon. And it’s all my fault,” he finally admitted. Everything was his fault.

“What? You weren’t even there, you couldn’t… No.” Derek felt Stiles hand touch his own. “This whole town bullshit? Not. Your. Fault. It’s just some people who are overly loving towards a boy they don’t even know anymore. It’s kind of sweet in a rather terrifying way,” Stiles said. “And the Alpha Pack thing? It’s their fault they came here, not yours. They’re the ones pushing this, they’re the ones making a big deal out of things, and trying to get their way. They’re the problem, not you. Don’t you dare say it’s you.”

“Stiles,” Derek started, but Stiles’ hand shook his until Derek looked up again.

“No! Do you hear me? No! Don’t you put their bullshit on yourself. Not your fault Derek. The only thing you are at fault for is liking me, and I’m not complaining about that. Oh, and making Isaac, Erica and Boyd your beta’s, but that’s something they also were at fault for. So just don’t.”

“It’s -” Derek tried again, but Stiles snapped his teeth at Derek.

“No.”

They stared at each other again, Derek frowning and Stiles glaring. It still felt like it was his fault, but Derek could also see Stiles’ logic. From an outsider’s point of view it might not be his fault, but from an insider’s view…

“I should have -” Derek started again and Stiles snapped his teeth once more.

“No.”

“You’re being an-”

“No.”

“-idiot,” Derek made himself finish. They glared at each other some more.

“Maybe, but you like me,” Stiles grinned.

The feelings that rushed through him were overwhelming then, and Derek tossed the plate on the table and surged up, pulling Stiles into his arms. His face lightly nuzzled at Stiles’ neck and he breathed in deeply. “Yeah,” he said with a nod. “I do.”

One hand came up and lightly stroked through Derek’s hair. “Good, ‘cause I like you too.” Derek nodded once more and sank into the embrace. He didn’t want to lose this, not ever.


End file.
